Prominent international mural artists contribute to ‘2nd of December Street’ project

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Wednesday, January 04, 2017

The first phase of the Dubai Street Museum project, being jointly implemented by Brand Dubai, the creative arm of the Government of Dubai Media Office, and Dubai Municipality saw the participation of prominent international mural and graffiti artists. The artists painted a total of 16 murals on themes drawn from the UAE’s history and rich heritage.

Artists from different genres of art participated in the first phase of Dubai Street Museum titled the ‘2nd of December Street’ project. They included prominent names such as the German artist Case Maclaim, Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, French artist Julien Malland, also known as Seth, and Russian artist Julia Volchkova among others.

Project Manager of the ‘Dubai Street Museum’ Shaima Al Suwaidi said that Brand Dubai provided all the support necessary for the artists to develop distinctive murals. The artworks represent a valuable addition to Dubai’s creative and artistic environment, she noted. Apart from bringing together prominent international mural artists, the project has also facilitated the participation of talented young UAE artists. A number of meetings were held to select the themes of the murals for the project, which is also set to be implemented in other parts of the city.

“The project has created murals depicting many key aspects of the UAE’s culture and tradition on buildings located along the 2nd of December Street. The participating artists, who come from all over the world, have translated the objectives of the project in a creative way. We made sure to provide the artists with all the background information necessary for portraying the scenes we selected so that they could create murals rich with detail,” she said. “The artists spent a long time working out the details of the proposed scenes as well as understanding the historical background to the scenes,” she added.

“During the preparation period, we thoroughly reviewed every proposed theme so that each scene depicted by the artists would accurately portray life in the UAE. This attention to detail was necessary since the themes, which included ‘Abraa’, ‘Clothes’, ‘Traditional Games’, ‘Henna Designs’ and ‘Dallah’ (coffee pot), mark out the UAE’s culture from other countries in the region,” she added.

International artists who participated in the project expressed their happiness at being able to contribute to the creation of murals, as it allowed them to learn more about the UAE and the Gulf’s tradition and culture.

The ‘2nd of December Street’ project saw the participation of 12 international artists. One of the artists, Case Maclaim, who hails from Germany, is considered a pioneer in photo-realistic graffiti. Case is widely recognized for his breathtaking images of twisted, abstract portraits and body shapes that go beyond reality and step into the realm of the surreal while challenging the audience’s preconceptions of what beauty actually is.

Ernest Zacharevic combines fine art techniques with a passion for creating outdoor art. Experimentation lies at the heart of Ernest's style, with the only constant being the dedication to his ever-changing concepts. Ernest is also interested in the interaction of murals and the urban landscape, with concepts arising as part of a spontaneous response to the environment, the community and culture.

French artist ‘Seth’ is an exceptionally talented Parisian street artist who works in a wide variety of mediums including paintings, sculpture and tapestry. He is internationally recognised for his eye-catching and dreamy murals of child-like characters painted in locations across the world.

Other artists who participated in the project include Polish artist who goes by the name of ‘1010’, Tunisian artist Mohammed Kilan, also known as ‘Inkman’, Chinese artist Hua Tunan, French artists Zepha, Kan and L’atlas, as well as Norwegian artist Martin Whatson and UAE resident Diaa Allam.